Question for the Tank Grogs

[Hans]

Gentlemen in your august opinions

For a 1940 scenario what would be the best tanks to use to represent the French armour?

H39, Somua and Char Bs?

[von Lucke]

That's a rough one, because all the allied 37mm or 40mm guns in CMAK beat the short 37mm and 47mm guns used by the French.

I'll try though:

For the Char B: The M3 Lee, because it's armor isn't any thicker than 51mm, and the Char had a max of 60mm --- this makes the Churchill I too heavy, BTW.

For the Somua: The Crusader II. The Somua had 50mm in the turret, and 40mm in the hull, with a 47mm gun. The Crusader is a little light and fast, but the next choice (the Val I or II), has too much armor.

For the Hotchkiss H39: That's a hard one. The Allies don't really have any 2-man tanks with wimpy guns. Though, I suppose you might try the American M8 HMC, and give it a small load-out of HE only.

[Hans]

Good solutions. I'd thought of the Grant/Lee myself for the Char although I think the 75mm gun is superior-perhaps limit to HE. Very good suggestion on the HMC amd Crusader!

[Redwolf]

The problem is also that vehicles like the M8 HMC and the Crusader are much more mobile than the old French stuff was.

In the hands of a skilled player that will mess up historical results even more than a few gun differences.

[MikeyD]

There is a French tank(s?) in CMBB but unfortunately it's on the German side. It might be stretching things a bit more than one ought to play Germans in captured French tanks vs Russians in captured German tanks and make believe its the Belgian countryside! :D ;)

BFC did say some years back that an early war Blitz game (Poland, France, Norway) was part of their 5-year plan for CM. I don't know if the fancy new game engine and popular clamour for a Cold War version is making them have second thoughts in that regard.

[Abteilung]

Maybe the mobility issues can be mitigated to an extent by judicious use of terrain for the maps involved. Rocky terrain tiles slow AFV's down quite a bit, as does soft ground, and mud when setting ground conditions.

This would adversley affect all tanks, however the Panzers *should* retain a mobility advantage over the A15 and M8 due to lower ground pressure. I say *should* because I cannot remeber the exact values off the top of my head. :D

On a side note, I wish you the best of luck and look forward to trying out the end result of your efforts.

[Hans]

Yes I'll have some a small (test) German vs French scenario in a few days. See if it works or is to weird to pursue.

Thanks for you help